1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a conveyor apparatus. More specifically, the invention relates to a conveyor system for linearly transporting articles such as microtiter plates.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Conveyors are well known for moving objects between different locations and typically include an endless belt or chain moving uni-directionally between different stations. The advent of robotic systems has increased the dependency on conveyor systems to move work pieces accurately between different workstations, as human intervention is no longer available to ensure accurate positioning or to make real time adjustments to the location of the work piece.
Where registration of the work piece on a conveyor is necessary, it is known to provide stops alongside the belt conveyor that provide an abutment for the work piece and inhibit relative movement between the work piece and the conveyor belt. Such an arrangement is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 6,095,316 to Redden in which a pair of endless chains or belts are located on opposite sides of a slide way and engage the rear edge of the work piece. Such an arrangement, however, involves a large number of mechanical parts and requires an accurate registration between the chains to obtain correct alignment of the work piece and the conveyor.
One particular area in which the use of robotics has been widely deployed is in the pharmaceutical research laboratory where biological samples, usually contained on microtiter plates, are to be moved between different test equipment without human intervention. In such an environment accurate positioning of the plates is critical and at the same time, the conveyor must be reliable and have as few moving parts as possible to avoid undue complexity.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a conveyor in which the above disadvantages are obviated or mitigated.
According, therefore, to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a conveyor for moving an article along a predetermined path the conveyor having an endless belt entrained about a pair of supports spaced apart along the path. A support surface on the belt receives the article, and a drive moves the belt relative to the supports along the path. The support surface has a pair of abutments to inhibit relative movement between the article and the belt along the predetermined path.
According to a farther aspect of the invention, there is provided a conveyor system to move an article along a predetermined path. The system comprises a pair of workstations and a conveyor extending along the predetermined path between the pair of workstations. The conveyor has an endless belt entrained about a pair of supports spaced apart along the path with a support surface on the belt to receive the article. A drive moves the belt relative to the supports along the path. The support surface having a pair of abutments positioned on the belt to engage oppositely directed surfaces on the article and inhibit relative movement between the belt and the article along the path.